Page 55 of Wellspring
“Can you tell me what happened before you were shot?”Parnell asked.
“We’d come into town to pick up the week’s supplies,” Erick began, speaking slowly.He and Cade had hoped to spend the night away from prying eyes at Wellspring before the threats from the JR hands escalated, but he wasn’t about to volunteer that.“We decided to stop at the Meiers’ for some refreshment while Miss Hart prepared our order.Lutz was there, along with Frank Sanders, the foreman of the JR ranch.”He stopped to draw a shallow breath, fighting to suppress the expression of pain it caused.“Sanders said he was sorry we’d miss the excitement.He made it clear that JR hands intended to attack Wellspring to seize the ranch’s water access.”
“Because Miz Roarke wouldn’t agree to marry JR’s owner,” MacRae added.“Reichardt couldn’t get the ranch the easy way, so he decided to take it by force.”
“And Sheriff Lutz heard this?”Parnell asked.
“He all but drank a toast to JR’s success,” Erick said.“Then Sanders made a vulgar insult regarding Mrs.Roarke.I will not repeat it, but I admit I struck him, hard enough to knock him down.”
“Good for you, Heller,” MacRae said.“I’ve wanted to knock the sneer off that jackal’s face since the first time I met him.”
“Since the company was no longer congenial, we decided to return to the mercantile,” Erick continued.“Sanders shot me as we were walking away.I’m afraid I do not recall much after that.”
Parnell turned to Dr.Lillard.“Not to doubt Mr.Heller’s word, but is his wound consistent with his story?”
“Was he shot in the back, do you mean?”Dr.Lillard asked acerbically.“Yes, absolutely.The bullet entered between his shoulder blades, hit his lung, and barely missed his heart.And while I couldn’t leave my patient this morning to see the gunfight that resulted in Lutz’s and Sanders’s deaths, I heard the shouting, which included Sanders threatening to finish Webster off since Carter hadn’t done it, and heard them shoot before Webster and Trujillo.”
“How do you know they shot first?”Parnell asked.
“Because Trujillo uses a seven-barrel Nock shotgun that makes a very distinctive roar,” Lillard explained.“Any other shots were fired before Webster did.”
“A gunslinger, is he?”Parnell asked with a frown.
“Not quite,” Erick said.“He uses a bow.”
“Although he’s as good or better than any gunslinger you’re likely to meet,” MacRae added.
Parnell raised his eyebrows but let it go.“So as far as you are aware, Mr.Trujillo and Mr.Webster acted only in self-defense.”
“Yes,” Dr.Lillard said.“And good riddance to the other two.I have their bodies in back if you’d like to take a look at them.”
“Perhaps later.Thank you for your information, gentlemen,” Parnell said.“I believe my next step should be to speak with the—Meiers, was it?”
“They run the Lone Star.Best saloon in town,” MacRae said.“Only saloon in town, actually.I’d be happy to show you the way.I might even buy you a drink.”
“Trying to influence my decision?”Parnell asked with a wry smile.
“I won’t need to.After everyone tells you the same story, only an idiot would keep Javier and Cade locked up.”
CADE ROUSEDfrom a light doze when the door to the sheriff’s office opened again and the marshal entered, Mac one step behind him, a grin on his face.That boded well.
“Mr.Webster, Mr.Trujillo, you are free to go,” Parnell announced.“Everyone I spoke with agreed you only defended yourselves against an unprovoked attack.”He pulled the ring of keys from the hook on the wall above Tatum’s desk and opened the door to the cell.
Javier was saying something polite to the marshal, but Cade didn’t have the patience for it.He bolted the second the door opened, needing to see Erick for himself.Sure, Chel had spent the past few hours assuring him Erick was alive and even awake, but until he could see that with his own eyes, he wouldn’t completely believe it.
He barreled his way through the townspeople going about their business and crashed through the door to Dr.Lillard’s surgery.
“Slow down, boy,” Dr.Lillard scolded.“Where’s the fire?”
“No fire.”Cade panted for breath.“I just need to see Erick.”
“He’s resting at the moment,” the doctor said.“Speaking with the marshal tired him out more than he’d like to admit.It’s going to take quite some time to build his stamina back up to where it was before.”
“I’ll be sure he takes it easy,” Cade assured him, though he privately thought Erick would try to be back on his feet far sooner than Dr.Lillard would like.“We need him back at Wellspring.”I need him back.
“Well, you can go sit with him ’til he wakes up.Do him good to see someone besides that girl of his.”
“Girl?”Cade had to smother a laugh when he realized the doctor was talking about Chel.“I hope he won’t be too disappointed that it’s just me.”
